Weaving words and telling tales.

Monthly Archives: May 2015

• Nine minutes has never been a quality nap
• I’m groggier than the first wake up
• Who the hell thought nine minutes was a good idea
• It’s been proven scientifically that this disrupts the sleep cycle
• Seriously, who the hell looked at nine minutes and then thought “AH YES, THE PERFECT NAP IN THE MORNING”

I put in this filter yesterday. It’s got an ozone generator and a HEPA filter.

A snap decision?

Well…

The thing is, I’d cleaned the air conditioner filter the day before. And it was black. Mold, sticky with tar buildup—I don’t smoke. The last cleaning was the month prior. The filters at work don’t get so ice.

It hadn’t been that long between cleanings.

If this was my AC, I didn’t want to think about what I was breathing in.

I have a lot of opinions about the whole thing with the “food stamps challenge,” where a usually well off, usually white individual takes the challenge to live like a person on food stamps for some arbitrary period of time.

Half of the time they seem to be doing it to prove that it’s doable. They go into it with the attitude that it’s easy, and so chipper about it.

Then, they’re surprised when they can’t do it.

Let me tell you about the real food stamp challenge.

The food stamp challenge is having a job that barely covers the bills, so you NEED them or you don’t eat.

It’s being grateful that you don’t have to pick between your prescription and a week worth of food.

It’s the sudden realization that you can afford to have meat with this meal—and it doesn’t have to be from the dubious “this is a day away from the sell by date” section.

It’s realizing that the only thing keeping you from this meal is the bone crushing exhaustion of the job—or jobs—that still don’t raise you up high enough to not need the assistance.

People are out here taking this “challenge” like it’s some kind of game. But for millions of us, this ain’t no game.